Huskies take bite out of Pirates
Zach Prosser hammered a pair of ground-rule doubles, and Daniel Denton smashed a bases-loaded double to lead Sutter High's baseball team to a 13-1 win over host Wheatland.
Denton's blast proved to be the deciding margin in the Butte View League game that was called in the sixth inning because of the 10-run mercy rule.
“We really came out swinging today,” Sutter coach Mark Renfree said. “We really spread it around.”
The Huskies (8-3-1, 3-0) pounded out 12 hits against three Pirate pitchers. Prosser, Denton, Dariusz Ratajczak, Josh Birmingham and Colton Harris each collected two hits.
“We also had another good pitching performance that kept us in the game,” Renfree said.
Derek Carothers started on the hill for the Huskies, pitching six innings. He allowed just three hits, two of which were stroked by Danniel Brown. Denton came on in the seventh to close the books on Wheatland (2-9, 0-2).
“We just didn't hit the ball,” Pirates coach Eric Valencia said. “And they got the timely hits when they needed to. We had an opportunity to put the pressure on them, but we couldn't.”
Chris Sullivan started on the mound for Wheatland and retired Sutter in order in the top of the first. The Pirates then got a pair of runners aboard in the last half of the first, but were denied. Sullivan led off with a walk, stole second and took third on Brown's base hit up the middle. Carothers then struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
After being shut down in the first, the Huskies erupted for three runs in the second. Ratajczak beat out a bunt for a base hit, stole second and scored on a ground-rule double by Prosser that hopped the fence in left field.
“I was waiting on the fastball,” Prosser said.
Harris followed with a single to right-center to drive in Sutter's second run, and Jordan Parsons blooped a single to center to bring in the third.
Sutter batted around in the third, scoring five runs for an 8-0 lead. Ratajczak led off with a single to right and Prosser followed with his second ground-rule double, this time up the middle.
“It was a curveball, but it didn't break much,” Prosser said.
Wheatland scored its lone run in the fifth when Jeremy Hubbard beat out an infield single, took second on a wild pitch, moved to third on Sullivan's sacrifice, and scored on Brown's infield single.
Sutter put an early end to the game with five runs in the sixth, as Denton plated the last three runs with his bases-loaded double down the left field line.
“We had a good day defensively and a good day pitching,” Prosser said. “We kept them (Pirates) hitting grounders all day.”
